Gensokyo Railway Series 22 (Even more about Ichihiro)
by Pergold
Summary: In this installment of GRS: Ichihiro races a bus, meets some new engines, as an accident with a wagon, and encounters a difficult barge. Meanwhile, Nitori builds a new narrow gauge line, since some onis discovered slate in the mountains.
1. Prologue

There had been a breakthrough on one of the mountains near Youkai Mountain. Onis looking for metals to dig up and sell, had instead found a type of rock in the ground.

"Slate." said Nitori Kawashiro, Gensokyo Railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer.

"Slate? What are we do with these rocks?" asked Remilia Scarlet, otherwise known as the Scarlet Controller.

"We could mine it, its useful. But we can't extend the railway to where the onis found the slate."

"Isn't there a way to build a smaller railway?"

"Well, we could build a narrow gauge railway. Anywhere between two feet, three inches or two feet. Otherwise, anywhere between 600 and 700 millimeters."

"Where would we get the engines?"

Nitori paused, thinking on what to do. "We could try and build our own engines, but we could overhaul some pre-existing ones just to make things easy."

Yukari was asleep during the meeting and she started to wake up, she yawned and started talking. "What about the Skarloey Railway? Ran and Chen went there and they an engine rescued from an old shed."

"If they found one engine, maybe we could another." said the Scarlet Controller.

"I'm not sure, it might be worth the risk." replied Nitori, "But I'm sure you might find one engine, two if your lucky."

"I'd take that as a challenge." and with those words, Yukari went into one of her gaps and disappeared.

"When should we start construction?" asked Remilia.

"We should figure out the gauge then we'll start immediately." answered Nitori.


	2. Ichihiro and Hayate

Ichihiro was at the Sanzu Resort picking up passengers when a red and white AEC Regal III pulled across from the platform and its horn honked.

"Hello!" said the bus, "I'm Hayate and I'm a bus. Say? Aren't you the engine that crashed into that big snow drift?"

Ichihiro felt indignant, "So what if I did?"

"I remember now! I helped your passengers and that oni Yuugi had to pull you out."

"Oh? So your the bus that came." said Ichihiro.

"So there _are_ buses in Gensokyo!" Ichihiro's firewoman thought.

"I came to help with some of the humans. I bet I can go faster than you." said Hayate.

"I can go faster than you any day." replied Ichihiro, "I say we have a race and I'll prove to you that I'm better than a motorized wagon."

The two drivers agreed and when the guard's whistle blew, the two set off for their race. Ichihiro had a great start, but Hayate caught up to him and surpassed him.

"Don't worry." said Ichihiro's driver, "There's a crossing just up ahead."

Up ahead was one of the few protected level crossings, this one had gates and had to be opened and closed manually. Hayate was stuck and Ichihiro passed by him, he whistled and relished in his newfound lead. But soon he had to stop by a small station called a Halt that served the Sanzu Harbor. There were some passengers there and Ichihiro had to stop. He whistled, "Peep! Peep! Get in quickly please!"

The passengers that wanted to go on, got onboard and Ichihiro set off once more. But it wasn't long until Hayate caught back up to him.

"Hello Ichihiro! Bye Ichihiro!" said Hayate.

"What a cheeky bus." mumbled Ichihiro.

Hayate took the lead, and Ichihiro put more effort into going faster than him.

"Go steady!" called his driver.

But Ichihiro went faster still. Hayate had to stop because Suika Ibuki, an oni, had passed out drunk on the road and was sleeping off the alcohol. Hayate's driver was busy trying to drag her off the road.

"Bad luck Hayate!" called out Ichihiro, taking the lead once more.

"C'mon driver! We're losing!" said Hayate.

Ichihiro puffed down the line towards the big station. Minutes went by and Hayate zoomed down the road, the line and the road went away from each other and the two got separated. Ichihiro felt tired and was feeling himself feel dry. Ichihiro slunked into the big station, he unloaded passengers for his next train to Eientei. He saw that Hayate was leaving the big station and drove off in the direction of Eientei.

"We've lost!" said Ichihiro, wearily.

"Don't worry Ichihiro, you'll feel much better after a quick drink." replied his driver.

Ichihiro took on some more water and left for Eientei, his driver threw up the regulator as high at it could and Ichihiro ran at top speed down the mainline onto his branch line. Bamboo stalks became a blur in his eyes, he soon heard Hayate's motor and he pumped his pistons hard and went past and the noise became ever so more distant. He soon approached Eientei station and slowed down, his driver was hard on the brakes to make sure Ichihiro stopped in time.

"We did it!" gasped Ichihiro.

The passengers came out and celebrated Ichihiro's victory. He was also several minutes early, so the passengers that weren't around for the beginning of the race had something to cheer about. Soon, Hayate arrived and the passengers gave him a big cheer too.

"You won, but all in all, this was kind of...fun." said Hayate.

"Thanks." replied Ichihiro.

"You know, in order to beat you, I'll have to grow wings and be a tengu."

The two became firm friends, they often talked about their race and wanted to do it again. But Hayate's passengers don't like being bounced around like _Yasi Itame_ , and the Scarlet Controller told Ichihiro to not go at such dangerous speeds. They still wanted to race again, even if the odds are more slim than a small twig.


	3. Ichihiro and the Small Engines

Ichihiro was in the works for general maintenance, a group of kappas were checking him over for any problems. They were finishing up when a flatbed truck came into the building. There appeared to be two engine-like figures covered in tarpaulins. The tarps were removed revealing two small, rust covered engines.

"Hello." said Ichihiro.

Both engines had been asleep and one of them woke up.

"Huh? Where I'm I?" said the one with a saddle tank.

"Your in the Kappa Valley Engine Works, judging by your appearance, I think your going to get restored." replied Ichihiro.

"Restored? Is this a heritage railway?"

"No. This is the Gensokyo Railway. I don't think there's anything 'heritage' about it."

"Good luck restoring me. My firebox melted a long time ago, I don't think I can be fixed."

"The kappas here in Kappa Valley make all sorts of things. I think they can make a firebox, it be so easy since your all so small."

"So small?! You think I'm tiny!" said the Saddle Tank.

"I mean...uh..." Ichihiro stopped talking, so as not to continue the angry midget sized engine.

A kappa walked over, it was Nitori Kawashiro, she began asking the Saddle Tank engine questions.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Albert." replied the Saddle Tank engine.

"Albert?" said Ichihiro, "Isn't that a western name?"

Albert was taken aback by this, "I mean yes, why? What is this place?"

"Your in Gensokyo...Albert."

"So I'm in one of those Asian countries. Never to see my home ever again?" replied Albert.

The other engine woke up, this engine had pannier tanks, but was more rusted and had mineral deposits on parts of itself.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Stanley? Is that you?" said Albert.

"Yes why? Where are we." replied the engine.

"We're in some place called Gensokyo."

"Anywhere is better than being in that mine, you know, the one at Cas-Ny-Hawin."

"Yeah, I remember."

"Excuse me, but where did you two come from?" asked Ichihiro.

Both of the small engines said "Sodor." in unison.

"Sodor? Its that place out west from here? I know some people that went there. Like Ran and Chen, and some of ZUN's friends."

"Who's Ran, Chen, and ZUN?" asked Albert.

"Ran and Chen live here and ZUN comes here from time to time and makes games about some of the yo-I mean people here."

"This place seems very queer." said Stanley.

"But it keeps getting weirder." replied Albert.

Then in came the Scarlet Controller. "So these are the engines Yukari found."

"Hello, sir!" said Ichihiro.

"Who are you?" asked Albert.

"I'm Remilia Scarlet and I'm your controller." the Scarlet Controller said.

"My _controller_? You look so small for a controller, my old manager was bigger than you!"

"I'll leave you for scrap if you keep up with that attitude of yours." the Scarlet Controller said firmly.

"Anyway, you two will be restored and you'll be working on our new narrow gauge line."

The two small engines were quiet until Stanley spoke up, "Thank you miss." he said.

"That's _sir_ to you, but thank you."

The Scarlet Controller and her head maid walked out of works on her way back home. It wasn't long until Ichihiro's maintenance check was done and he left the two other engines alone.


	4. Scrambled Eggs

Ichihiro was sent to work to work on the Sanzu branch line. When he got to the harbor, Shiro was working with two engines Ichihiro hadn't seen before.

"These two engines are Haruka and Haruki, they work for a small industrial railway in Higan." said Shiro.

"Hi Haruka and Haruki."

The twins were too busy arguing over which line of trucks to hear Ichihiro.

"These go on track five!" said Haruka.

"No, no, these go on track three!" argued Haruki.

"Track five!"

"Track three!"

"Track five!"

"Track three!"

"Stop arguing you two!" said Shiro, "Besides those trucks should be on track four."

The two twins were silenced by the fact that the arguing would do nothing, because the trucks weren't needed on any of the tracks they wanted.

"Haruka, Haruki, set Ichihiro's train for him." said Shiro.

"C'mon Haruki, Let's do some more shunting!" told Haruka.

The two twins arranged Ichihiro's train and once it was set, Ichihiro was coupled up to the trucks and set off at once.

The Sanzu Branch Line has an unprotected crossing as a dirt lane crossed the tracks. Sometimes, a farmer would come by with a wagon full of diary products like milk and eggs. This time, the farmer's ox that usually pulled it was sickly and the farmer had a hard time getting it to go. At least, the animal spluttered and hauled the wagon. The ox pulled the wagon was about to finish the crossing, when the ox finally stopped, it laid down and had a coughing fit. The farmer went to go get help, but the back half of the wagon was still on the track. Ichihiro came trundling down the line right until he saw the wagon, but it was too late and he bumped right into the wagon. The force of the impact had spun the wagon around. Milk and broken eggs were all over Ichihiro's front and boiler. Splitter wood was everywhere as the wagon was damaged.

"Look what you did to my wagon!" exclaimed the farmer, "What a way to make _tamagoyaki_."

Ichihiro's driver came out to see what had happened, he laughed.

"Its not funny." said Ichihiro crossly, as an egg yolk trickled down his nose and onto his buffer beam.

"You looked like a scrambled egg." said Ichihiro's driver.

"If being a scrambled egg is as wet and sticky as this, then clean me at once!" replied Ichihiro.

Ichihiro's crew tried to clean him, but it was no good. The heat of his boiler caused the eggs to cook on boiler and smokebox and where stuck firmly.

"We can't block the line any longer than this, we'll have to finish our journey." said his driver.

Ichihiro gave up and left to finish his work. When Ichihiro came back to the harbor, he was put where Haruka and Haruki stayed for the night and he was being cleaned up more throughly.

"Hello." said Haruki, "What's this?"

"Must be a new engine." said Haruka.

Haruka inspected the arrival carefully, "No Haruki, its Ichihiro!" he finally said.

"He must have been given a new color, he looks just like us! Replied Haruki.

A grinding noise was heard.

"Are your joints stiff?" asked Haruka.

"No, I don't think so." answered Haruki.

But it wasn't Haruki's joints, it was Ichihiro, mashing his teeth.


	5. Kimishima

Ichihiro and Kiyoshi were working in the harbor, Haruka and Haruki were needed back in Higan and had been sent back.

"I wonder when they'll come back." said Kiyoshi.

"They will probably be back sometime soon." replied Ichihiro.

"I like having them around."

"I don't know about that Kiyoshi."

"Why? Are you still getting over the time that you got covered in eggs?"

The incident with the farmer's cart happened several days ago, it took forever to get the eggs off of Ichihiro's boiler and the twins made fun of him. Suddenly one of the tugboats came close by, it was Ten Yen, he didn't look very happy, in fact he was a bit angry.

"What's the matter, Ten Yen?" called out Kiyoshi.

"Its that stupid barge." said Ten Yen.

"Is it Kimishima?" asked Kiyoshi.

"Yes, in fact, all he does is moan and complain!"

"Who's Kimishima?" asked Ichihiro.

Ten Yen began to explain, "Kimishima is a disagreeable barge, all he does is complain. Sometimes he says we're late, other times, he says we don't go fast enough."

"That Kimishima sounds like a pain." said Ichihiro.

"I'd say, but I have to leave now. Bye Kiyoshi, Bye Ichihiro."

"Bye Ten Yen!" said the two engines.

Ten Yen was right about Kimishima and today, he was more bad tempered than ever. Kimishima was at the end of a dock being loaded with freight.

"Come on! Come on! The trucks need to be put where they should be!" he said.

"Those trucks can't move on their own." said Mob Cap, the railway tugboat, "They need an engine, and they can only go where they're put."

"You and those bloody trucks are in the wrong place! Not me!" replied Kimishima.

When Kiyoshi arrived to where Kimishima was, the barge was sulking.

"This is for Kimishima, just put them somewhere and we can be rid of him." said a harbor worker.

Kiyoshi was soon coupled to a line of trucks and was pulling them out of the siding that was perpendicular to where Kimishima was. The trucks gave a big jerk and Kiyoshi lost control of them. The trucks picked up speed and crashed through a set of buffers.

"Look out!" cried Kiyoshi.

But it was too late! The trucks went across the dock and the trucks smashed onto Kimishima, putting a hole through his hull.

"Oooogh! I'm sinking!" said Kimishima.

"Serves you right!" said Ten Yen, "You were always barging in and moaning!"

It took a long time to clear up the mess. Kiyoshi watched as Kimishima was towed to the side of the river. When Kimishima was finally beached some workers beginning to talk to him.

"There you are, now you can just stay there!" one said.

"Now youkai can play inside of you all day." said another.

"Now, you can finally be somewhat useful to us!" said a third.

That evening Kiyoshi was resting on a siding when Ten Yen can came by.

"Thank you for taking out that barge." he said.

"It was nothing, the truck sort of moved themselves and they just crashed into him." Kiyoshi replied.

"But I owe you one. Thank you." and with that Ten Yen left.


	6. Epilogue

Construction had begun on the new narrow gauge railway. This new railway would connect the Moriya Shrine to the Kappa Valley with a connection to the slate mine. A new engine was being built too, it was a Kerr Stuart Tattoo. Along side with two other engines being refurbished.

"So when will this all open?" asked the Scarlet Controller.

"In a month or two, the railway is quite small and it helps that the gauge is smaller." replied Nitori Kawashiro.

"So who are the engines again? I know that Yukari took some old engines from Sodor."

"We have Stanley and Albert, but we are building another engine. I think we'll name him after ZUN, just as a nice gesture."

"Ah."

That was when Yukari appeared.

"Hello Yukari, what brings you here." said Nitori.

"I'm just seeing how my recent finds have been doing." Yukari said.

"Stanley is doing fine, his water tanks and boiler just got replaced. Albert's smokebox is being replaced as we speak and he's amazingly thankful for it. I think you should go see him, he says he damaged it himself when he didn't stop for water." replied Nitori.

"You no I don't really like these artificial youkai very much."

"C'mon Yukari, try talking to him. He might have some good stories about his origins. It might interest Chen."

"Fine. I'll go see him." Yukari then left to go see Albert.

The two other youkai finished their conversation and Remilia left Nitori to finish her work. On the side, she was working on a new ejector, similar to a Giesl Ejector, but better. It was still on paper, but she would have to wait for the right opportunity to implement it. But on who?


End file.
